WISCONSIN DELLS, Wis. – John DeAngelis Jr. survived a restart with three laps left to narrowly win the finale of the Alive For Five series for super late models Saturday evening at Dells Raceway Park.
DeAngelis quickly moved into the top-five at the start of the Falloween 150 after starting sixth and was elevated to second when leaders Justin Mondeik and Rich Bickle Jr. made contact during a restart with 13 laps completed.
Using a big run on the outside, DeAngelis was able to take the lead from Jordan Thiel during the second attempt at the restart. He would hold the position until the midway break at lap 75 as Slinger Nationals winner Luke Fenhaus gave chase.
When the race resumed DeAngelis returned to the race lead, but he had a new challenger behind him as ARCA Midwest Tour champion Ty Majeski moved into second. DeAngelis remained the leader with Majeski chasing him until a caution with 27 laps left restacked the field.
DeAngelis again retained the lead during the restart, but Dalton Zehr quickly dispatched Majeski to move into second before setting off in pursuit of the race leader.
Zehr hounded DeAngelis in the battle for the lead before eventually muscling to the inside of DeAngelis into turn one with 20 laps left. The two made contact and DeAngelis washed up the track, giving the lead to Zehr.
DeAngelis quickly recovered and found himself fighting for third with Fenhaus. Entering turn three the two made contact and Fenhaus went around to bring the caution flag back out.
With scoring reverting back to the last completed lap, DeAngelis was moved back into the race lead with Zehr behind him in second. The race resumed and the battle between DeAngelis and Zehr quickly commenced again, with the two trading paint multiple times.
With four laps left Zehr gave DeAngelis a big shot to the bumper coming out of turn two, but one lap later the caution would wave for a car spinning in turn two.
DeAngelis and Zehr leaned on each other during the restart, with DeAngelis narrowly holding onto the lead on the bottom while Zehr worked the top of the track. With two laps left Zehr stuck his nose under DeAngelis in turn two and they again made contact, with DeAngelis getting sideways but somehow managing to hold the spot.
At the white flag DeAngelis and Zehr were side-by-side, with DeAngelis managing to edge ahead through turns one and two. In turns three and four DeAngelis washed up the track and pushed Zehr out of the groove, allowing Oktoberfest 200 winner Casey Johnson to get a run DeAngelis coming out of turn four.
DeAngelis won the drag race to the checkered flag, with Johnson stealing second from Zehr at the checkered flag.
“Man, that was wild,” DeAngelis said after earning the $5,000 payday. “He got into me there into (turn) one. I hate that Luke got spun out in that deal but I was trying to collect it up. Man, I don’t even have words.
“It definitely wasn’t an easy one to win. I had to work that last 75 (laps) with Ty and then Dalton there. They’re both really good cars. We had to do what we had to do.”
Majeski finished third, with Gabe Sommers taking fifth at the line. Fenhaus recovered from his late spin to finish eighth and secure the Alive For Five championship.
Saturday’s race was broadcast live by SPEED SPORT TV affiliate Pit Row TV.
The finish:
1. 7D@-John DeAngelis Jr[6]; 2. 5J@-Casey Johnson[4]; 3. 119@-Dalton Zehr[17]; 4. 91M@#-Ty Majeski[11]; 5. 15S@-Gabe Sommers[9]; 6. 51A-Steve Apel[18]; 7. 44M@-Justin Mondeik[2]; 8. 4F@#-Luke Fenhaus[8]; 9. 38D@-Jordan DeVoy[14]; 10. 42P-Dennis Prunty[13]; 11. 45B@-Rich Bickle[1]; 12. 44L@-Mike Lichtfeld[5]; 13. 78H@-Skylar Holzhausen[10]; 14. 2T@-Jordan Thiel[3]; 15. 82M-Nathan Matz[21]; 16. 11P-Alex Prunty[25]; 17. 8M-Billy Mohn[22]; 18. 25S@-Jeff Storm[20]; 19. 19M-Andrew Morrissey[23]; 20. 99Z@-Jake Zellmer[7]; 21. 17G@-Grant Griesbach[26]; 22. 34H@-Brandon Hill[19]; 23. 32B-Jesse Bernhagen[24]; 24. 80F@-Ryan Farrell[12]; 25. 11K@-Bobby Kendall[16]; 26. 70B*@-Brady Bill[15]